Social Media and Fake News Consumption by Z Generation During Pandemic Times

Abstract

The digital transformation materialised in different media consumption habits, as well as the reliability granted to them, has undoubtedly been affected by the crisis that the COVID-19 pandemic has imposed in all areas. Hence the relevance of the proposed study, which aims to address and describe these changes in a specific niche population: Generation z. Using a descriptive and exploratory qualitative methodology, a study is presented with a sample of 200 young people belonging to this population niche. The study addresses three dimensions: media consumption, social network consumption and fake news. The results suggest that generation z is a heavy consumer of the media they say they trust the least and perceive the most as a source of fake news distribution. The key finding indicates that social networks are the main source of information consumption despite being the least trusted and the most dangerous for distributing fake news. This somewhat contradictory situation implies the need more than ever for media literacy to support a generation that finds itself consuming media that it recognizes to be unreliable.